An angler on an overnight tuna and swordfish charter out of Narragansett, Rhode Island, caught the largest mahi-mahi the state has ever seen in late August. Fishing with Maridee Charters, angler Karl Mohr, of New York, battled the 37.56-pound, 59-inch dolphinfish to the gaff.
“We were pumped. I’ve never seen one that big,” said AJ Dangelo, who was running the deck for his father, Capt. Andy Dangelo. “It’s not typical to see mahi in our area over 10 pounds. You see a few big ones every year, but nothing that big.”
Juvenile mahi move into the waters off New England with warm Gulf Stream currents in summer. They congregate around “high flyers,” which are tall buoys with radar reflectors to help lobstermen find their pots. The mahi are a popular plan-B target when the tuna fishing is slow.
Doubled Up on Big Mahi
During Mohr’s trip, Capt. Dangelo had taken them about 85 miles offshore to an area known as Fishtails. They were trolling over about 700 feet of water, right on the north edge of Block Canyon.
AJ said Capt. Andy was pushing to see how close he could pull his spread to the buoys when they doubled up on mahi.
“The first one we got to the boat was a nice cow, maybe 15 pounds,” AJ said. “And I told the angler it was a good fish. I didn’t think the other one we had on was a mahi, because it wasn’t coming in like one.”
When AJ gaffed the second fish and brought it over the rail, he knew they had caught something special. The big mahi should replace a record that has stood for nearly 30 years. Although Rhode Island doesn’t officially recognize dolphinfish for state records, it does list a 32-pound, 4-ounce, 58.5-inch mahi caught in 1995 as a “Notable Catch.”
With this fish, AJ thinks he’s found a lucky combination for Meridee. Two years ago, Mohr caught a giant wahoo that would have been a record if they had documented it properly. The big wahoo and the record mahi both came on the same Sterling Tackle spreader bar—same lure, same angler.
Mohr’s wahoo weighed 91 pounds, “with the guts out,” AJ said. Also listed as a “Notable Catch,” the largest Rhode Island wahoo on record was caught in 1998 and weighed 80 pounds.
In case you’re curious about what an overnight trip out of Rhode Island looks like, AJ said they troll for yellowfin and big eye tuna during the day and spend the night swordfishing.
“It’s a blast,” he said. “They look like zombies when they get back to the dock. They’re all delirious. People try to get some sleep here and there, but everyone’s so excited that it’s hard to sleep.”
